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<title>Coming Out is the Catch by Edgelord (lostlikeme)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22685683">Coming Out is the Catch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostlikeme/pseuds/Edgelord'>Edgelord (lostlikeme)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>7th Heaven</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Coming Out, Coming of Age, F/F, Family Feels, Gen, Post-Canon, Road Trip</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 09:34:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,268</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22685683</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostlikeme/pseuds/Edgelord</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of her just wants to come out and say it: I kissed a girl at an Exxon gas station in Tennessee.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ruthie Camden/Original Female Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Coming Out is the Catch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day after the kiss, Ruthie is still working up the nerve to tell someone. It’s on her mind all throughout breakfast Saturday morning, and by noon her feelings are threatening to bubble over like overheated milk on the stove. She decides to call Simon after dinner, hand cupping her cellphone against her ear behind the camper. He picks up after just three beats, casual and relaxed. </p><p>Ruthie can’t bring herself to match his tone.</p><p>“Hey, are you busy?” she blurts. “There’s something I need to tell you. It’s Ruthie.”</p><p>“I know,” Simon says distractedly. “I’m just studying for a statistics test. What’s up?”</p><p>Ruthie takes a deep breath.</p><p>“Me and T-Bone broke up.”</p><p>Technically, it isn’t a lie. T-Bone and Ruthie are broken up, but that happened over a week ago, just ten days into their cross-country road trip. It’s not the real reason Ruthie is calling, and he knows it.</p><p>“Wasn’t that over a week ago?”</p><p>“How would you know?”</p><p>“Matt told me.”</p><p>“Well,” Ruthie huffs, stalling. “Now <i>I’m</i> telling you.”</p><p>“Ruthie,” Simon says emphatically. “What’s this really about?”</p><p>Part of her just wants to come out and say it: <i>I kissed a girl at an Exxon gas station in Tennessee.</i> Worse yet, it wasn’t comparable to any kiss she’s ever shared with a guy. She wasn’t sure how to put it into words, but it was almost like that kiss had reached something in her soul.</p><p>“There’s someone I like,” Ruthie confesses. “But I’m worried about what everyone is going to think.”</p><p>“If you like him - it doesn’t really matter what your friends think.”</p><p>“Not them,” Ruthie says. “You. I mean - our family.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t pick out a guy like that,” Simon says. “You usually have pretty good taste.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Ruthie says, emboldened. “But what if...what if my taste doesn’t involve boys at all.”</p><p>Simon shuffles around on the other end of the line, followed by marked silence. He coughs and then swallows. </p><p>“What do you mean, like a - a - uh...” </p><p>Ruthie doesn’t wait for him to try and say it again, she doesn’t want to hear him stutter over the word.</p><p>“Lesbian,” Ruthie says. “That’s exactly what I meant. What part of not ‘at all’ didn’t you get?”</p><p>“I get it, I get it. I think. I just mean - are you - how can you be sure? Maybe you just haven’t found the right guy.”</p><p>“Thanks for your input,” Ruthie snaps. “I didn’t call you so I could be judged, you know.”</p><p>“I’m not trying to be a jerk here Ruthie I’m just trying to be realistic. You’ve never - how could you possibly be, how would you even know if -”</p><p>“For your information I made out with a girl at an Exxon gas station in Tennessee!”</p><p>Ruthie hangs up her cellphone, barely resisting the urge to throw it before stuffing it in her pocket instead. Make out was a bit of an exaggeration, but what does Simon really know about it anyway? She drags her shirt sleeve across her damp cheeks, trying to pull it together. </p><p>That’s when her father finds her, ducking out from around the corner of the camper, face full of concern.</p><p>“Hey,” he says as he approaches. </p><p>Ruthie glances at him before looking away.</p><p>“Are you okay? I heard yelling.”</p><p>Ruthie turns to him with puffy, narrowed eyes.</p><p>“What did you hear?”</p><p>“Nothing,” Eric says truthfully. “Just some yelling.” Ruthie sniffles. “Mind if I join you?”</p><p>Ruthie looks away and shrugs. He walks over to lean back against the camper beside her. He looks up at the stars in the sky - they’re easy to see out here in the middle of nowhere. Ruthie stays silent until she can’t stand the mounting tension any longer.</p><p>“He who has not sinned among us may cast the first stone. John 8:7.”</p><p>Eric turns to his youngest daughter at the sound of her voice.</p><p>“Ruthie.”</p><p>“And what about Mathew 7:1! Do not judge or you too will be judged.”</p><p>“Ruthie.”</p><p>“And then there’s -”</p><p>“Ruthie! It’s fine.” </p><p>“It is?” Ruthie wants to cry again. “I mean, what is?”</p><p>“I love you so, so, so much, and I’ll love you no matter who you choose to share your love with. Whoever that person is - as long as they make you happy, it makes no difference to me.”</p><p>“I don’t even know for sure,” Ruthie says, tearing up all over again. “It was just one kiss.”</p><p>Eric wraps his arms around her and Ruthie takes in a slow, shuddering breath. Her tears seep into his shirt as he rubs her back.</p><p>“You’re young,” he says. “You’re not supposed to have all the answers.”</p><p>Ruthie swallows hard and pulls away.</p><p>“How did you know? Is it that obvious? Did you hear me on the phone with Simon?”</p><p>“As much as I’d like to say I know my daughter well enough to pick up on something like that…” Eric takes a deep breath. “Lucy saw you kissing a girl at the Exxon gas station in Tennessee.”</p><p>“I wanted to be the one to tell you!” Ruthie despairs. “Does everyone know?”</p><p>“Did you tell Simon?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Then yeah. Everybody knows.”</p><p>Ruthie traces a constellation in the sky with her eyes, heartbeat thundering in her ears. She stifles the sadness on the verge of spilling over.</p><p>“Mom hates it,” Ruthie declares. “No wonder she’s been so weird.”</p><p>“Your mother doesn’t hate it. She’s just...adjusting.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Ruthie says bitterly. “It must be really hard on her.”</p><p>“I know it may seem like she doesn’t care, but she does. She’s worried. She loves you more than anything, and she doesn’t want things to be hard for you.”</p><p>“She’s got a really funny way of showing it.”</p><p>“She’s only human, Ruthie, give it a little time.”</p><p>Ruthie crosses her arms and counts backward from ten in her head. When the anger doesn’t immediately dissipate she changes the subject.</p><p>“How did Matt take it?”</p><p>“Honestly?” Eric laughs. “I think he’s relieved.”</p><p>Ruthie can’t help the small smile the creeps across her face. </p><p>“Yeah, that sounds like Matt.”</p><p>“Lucy is proud of you. I think she’s even a little jealous.”</p><p>“Of what?”</p><p>“Of you. The way you - you’re so fearlessly yourself. Not everyone can do that.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Ruthie shifts her weight to one foot and back. “And what about you?”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“How did you feel - how did you take the news when Lucy told you?”</p><p>“I told already said - “</p><p>“I know, I know. You love me no matter what. But how did you feel when...you know, when you first found out?”</p><p>“At first, for just a split second, I have to admit...I was scared.”</p><p>Ruthie turns her gaze back to the sky, lips pressed tightly together.</p><p>“But then, the fear passed...and all I could feel was the love I have for you, and I was overcome with pride.”</p><p>“For what?”</p><p>“Pride because I’m so incredibly blessed to have a daughter willing to take risks to be herself. God doesn’t make mistakes, Ruthie.”</p><p>Ruthie believes him when he says that, finds her heart has slowly been returning to res for a while now. </p><p>“So I’m guessing Simon didn’t take it well?”</p><p>Ruthie rolls her eyes. She loses sight of the constellation in the sky and gives up trying to find it again. </p><p>“I think he was confused.”</p><p>“Oh, Simon. We’ll have to get Sam and David to explain to him.”</p><p>“Sam and David know?”</p><p>A weight’s been lifted from her chest. Her voice is lighter.</p><p>“I told you, everybody knows.”</p><p>Ruthie finds herself smiling at the thought.</p>
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